In Jim Williams’ 8/13 Letter to the Editor about the Lexington High School (LHS) project, he identified that he led a “ten-citizen group”* in an appeal to the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP). As a result, construction has largely stopped. I replied to Mr. Williams’ letter with a full description of the financial and schedule impacts of the delay based on estimates presented at the Permanent Building Committee (PBC) meeting on 8/19. The presentation assessed the ever-growing impacts based on MassDEP’s decision date.

The design team is confident that MassDEP will allow the project to proceed (they have seen this tactic used before) – the question is how long will it take? At a walkthrough of the project on 8/27, the MassDEP representative said the fastest possible review is two weeks, but this is a large project and will take longer – potentially much longer, we do not know.

Briefly, here are the impacts:

  • September 1 decision: $1 to $2.5 million increased costs due to escalation, resequencing, schedule compression, premium time, and shifting more work into winter months. Students will still be in the new school in September 2029.
  • October 1 decision: $2.5 to $5 million increased costs. With hard work by Town staff and team and some luck, students may still be in classrooms in September 2029.
  • November 1 decision: $17.6 million increased costs. Students would move into the new school during winter break (at the earliest). Both buildings would need to operate in the meantime and additional furnishings and IT would have to be purchased (not reused). Field construction will be delayed by a year.

The proponents have clearly expressed their displeasure with the project. They now have the opportunity to save the town millions of dollars by rescinding their appeal. By stopping the appeal now, they will be able to walk away from this effort with their heads held high. Not only will they have clearly made their point to the community, but they will also save the town millions of dollars and help to ensure that our students enter a new high school that meets their educational needs as scheduled in September 2029. Please join me in encouraging the proponents to make this courageous move.

Todd Rhodes

*Petition signers: Alan Seferian, James Williams, Jean Williams, Catherine White, Douglas White, Shailesh Chandra, Shubhra Chandra, Cheryl King, Thomas King, Philip Cunningham, Marianne Mckenna, Olga Guttag.

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